Google’s legal battle to overturn a record €4.125 billion ($4.7 billion) European Union antitrust fine suffered a significant setback Thursday after an influential advisor to the EU’s top court urged judges to dismiss the tech giant’s appeal.
Juliane Kokott, advocate general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), recommended that the court uphold a 2022 ruling by the EU’s General Court, which had slightly reduced the original fine but maintained the substance of the European Commission’s decision.
In her non-binding opinion, Kokott said the court should reject Google’s arguments and confirm the General Court’s judgment that the U.S. tech giant indeed abused the dominant position of its Android mobile operating system.
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The fine, originally imposed in 2018 by the European Commission, remains the largest ever levied by the EU in an antitrust case. At the time, the Commission concluded that Google used Android’s dominance in the mobile space to illegally cement its search engine’s market leadership by forcing smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome as a condition for accessing the Play Store.
Commission’s Verdict on Android’s Market Power
The Commission’s case centered on how Google structured its licensing arrangements for Android, which the regulator said deprived rivals of a fair opportunity to compete. According to the Commission, manufacturers who wanted to use Google’s Play Store and other proprietary apps had to agree to exclusively pre-install Google’s own search and browser apps, effectively squeezing out competing software from the market.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, had described Google’s practices as “illegal under EU antitrust rules,” adding that the company denied consumers “the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere.”
Google’s Pushback and Its Broader Argument
Reacting to Thursday’s development, Google said it was “disappointed” with Kokott’s recommendation, which it believes sends the wrong signal to developers and users relying on open-source platforms.
“Android has created more choice for everyone and supports thousands of successful businesses in Europe and around the world,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC. The company further argued that the EU’s case, and the resulting fine, could discourage investment in open platforms.
Google maintains that Android, which it distributes free of charge, has enhanced competition by enabling smartphone manufacturers to customize devices and offer affordable handsets in both mature and emerging markets. The company also said it had made changes to its business practices following the original 2018 decision, including offering users in Europe a choice of default search engines on Android devices.
What Comes Next?
While Kokott’s opinion is not binding, it carries substantial weight in the ECJ’s final deliberations. Historically, the court follows the advocate general’s recommendation in approximately 80% of cases. A final ruling from the ECJ is expected in the coming months.
If the court affirms the judgment, it would be the third consecutive major loss for Google in high-profile EU antitrust cases. It would also underscore the European Commission’s authority to regulate Big Tech and its ability to enforce competition policy against dominant players in digital markets.
Google has been fined more than €8 billion by the EU across three separate cases, including another for favoring its own shopping service in search results and a third involving online advertising.
The Android case remains particularly important due to its far-reaching implications for the mobile ecosystem and the future of bundled services in digital platforms.
A final defeat in the case could embolden EU regulators to more aggressively pursue other ongoing investigations involving Apple, Amazon, and Meta under the bloc’s evolving competition laws. It may also influence how global regulators, including those in the U.S. and U.K., interpret platform dominance and anti-competitive bundling in mobile and digital ecosystems.
As the Digital Markets Act begins to take effect, Thursday’s opinion reaffirms Europe’s tough stance against perceived abuses of platform power and sets a precedent that could affect how open-source business models are regulated across industries.